The Center for Disease Control defines teen pregnancy as “a teenage girl, usually within the ages of 13-19, who becomes pregnant” (About teen pregnancy, 2012). In 2011, 329,797 babies were born to teen mothers in the United States. While this number seems rather large, it is actually a record low for the United States, a drop of 8 percent from 2010. However, when compared to other developed and industrialized countries, the United States ranks in the top 5 countries with the highest teen pregnancy rate (Singh & Darroch, 15). While teen pregnancies have declined in all developed countries, it is still a prominent issue for today’s youth and society.
While the statistics may be hopeful of a continued decrease in teen pregnancies, the teen mothers of the over 300,000 babies born just in 2011 still struggle to earn a high school education, raise and support a family, and to rise or stay out of poverty. The added costs associated with teen pregnancies account for nearly $11 billion, paid for by tax-payers, annually (About teen pregnancy, 2012). These costs are comprised of increased health care for the mothers and children, foster care, incarceration, and loss of potential revenue.
One of the main causes of the monetary costs of teen pregnancies is the lack of education the teen mothers receive. Teen mothers are significantly more likely to drop out of high school, resulting in only 50 percent of teen mothers receiving a high school diploma by age 22, compared to almost 90 percent of other teenage girls (National campaign to prevent teen and unwanted pregnancy, 2011). In fact, teen pregnancy is the leading cause of females dropping out of high school. Furthermore, less than 2 percent of teen mothers attain a college degree by age 30. Because of their lower education status, teen mothers on average earn lower incomes than their peers, and are thus more likely to be in poverty.
Children of teen mothers are also affected for the long-term. These children are more likely to achieve lower than their peers, drop out of high school, have health problems, be jailed sometime during their youth, and be unemployed as a young adult (Teen pregnancy and education, 2010). Only about two-thirds of children born to teen mothers finish high school, as opposed to 81 percent of children born to older parents. Throughout their entire education, these children tend to struggle more and are 50 percent more likely to repeat a grade than children of later-bearing parents. Perhaps the most disheartening of all statistics, though, is children born to teen mothers are more likely to become teenage parents themselves, perpetuating the cycle of poverty and poor education.
In Alabama and Georgia, teen pregnancy rates are higher than the national average. In 2011, Alabama’s teen birth rate was 40.5 births for every 1,000 teenage girls (2011 Alabama at-a-glance, 2012), and 37.9 births for every 1,000 teenage girls in Georgia (Fast-facts, 2012). This compares to the national average of 31.3 births for every 1,000 teenage girls (About teen pregnancy, 2012). However, just as the nation’s teen pregnancy rate declined, so did Alabama’s and Georgia’s, with Alabama decreasing by 10 percent and Georgia decreasing by 8 percent. Because teen pregnancy is an issue with many negative long-lasting effects, it has become a trend to prevent teen pregnancy and to help teen mothers earn a high school diploma.
Trend or Issue
Preventing teen pregnancy is frequently a top issue for politicians and policy-makers, because of the extensive economic, social, health, and education costs for teen parents and their families. In 1990, teen pregnancy rates were the highest in the past 30 years, but have dropped by over 73.2 percent (Dell’antonia, 2012). Perhaps this decrease can be explained by the vigorous efforts of governments to reduce teen-pregnancy rates. In 1981, the Adolescent Family Life program was created by the federal government to combat the teen pregnancy trend (Solomon-Fears, 2013). In its first 20 years, the program focused on abstinence-only education, causing a 20-year decrease of 57.1 percent. From 2001 until 2010, teen pregnancy prevention shifted to increasing education and achievement for teen girls. School achievement, attendance, and school involvement have been shown to greatly reduce the risk of teen pregnancy (Teen pregnancy and education, 2010). In other words, when teen girls are more involved in school, the less likely they are to become teen mothers. Federal and state governments have worked hard to lower pregnancy rates in teens, resulting in the lowest rate ever in 2011. Thus, it has become a trend to continue to lower teen pregnancy rates throughout the nation.
The United States has nearly 14,000 school districts, and the lowest 25 continually low-achieving districts account for 20 percent of the nation’s dropouts (Shuger, 2012). In 2008, 69,809 out of the total 434,758 teen births were from these 25 school districts, or about 16 percent. Based on these statistics, the United States Department of Education released this statement in 2013: “Because there is a close connection between teen pregnancy and academic failure and because teen pregnancy affects the education achievement of teens themselves (as well as their children), those concerned about educating young people should also be concerned with preventing teen pregnancy”.
In 2010, $100 million of federal funds was given to public and private programs to try innovative techniques in lowering and preventing teen pregnancy rates (Solomon-Fears, 2013). Much of this money focused on the 25 failing school districts. In New York City, with 21.1 percent of the 39,669 dropouts due to teen pregnancy, the Changing the Odds program has recently been implemented (Shuger, 2012). The program intends to identify at-risk young girls before they become pregnant, using attendance rates, family income, academic achievement, surveys on sexual health, and other risk factors. If the program is successful, plans have been made to launch the program across the country in efforts to lower teen pregnancy and increase graduation rates for young girls. In West Virginia, one of only three states whose teen birth rate did not decrease from 2007 to 2010, the state department has started an initiative in an effort to inform and train all educators in the state about the relationship between education and teen pregnancy. All educators in the state are given pamphlets with statistics about dropout and teen pregnancy rates, with specifics for each county. Professional development programs are given to teachers and health professionals to offer ideas and tips to help reduce dropout rates and teen pregnancy. One key practice West Virginia hopes to implement is training every teacher in how to work with pregnant teens or young at-risk females. The theory is any teacher might have a close relationship with students, not just a health or sex-education teacher, and therefore can be influential in preventing teen pregnancy and dropout.
Mobile County has the highest teen pregnancy rate of all of metropolitan areas in Alabama, about 65.6 for every 1,000 teenage girls (Teen Pregnancy Prevention, 2013). As a result, the Alabama Department of Public Health and the Mobile County Department of Public Health have created the Title X Family Planning Program. The program focuses on targeting at-risk girls to help educate against teen pregnancy. Title X works closely with community services and health educators to train and educate these workers in methods to help identify at-risk girls before they become pregnant. This program receives state and federal funding to help sustain its efforts, projecting to reduce pregnancy rates in African American teens by 10% by 2015.
In our 21st century job market, it is essential for our teens to graduate high school and continue their education. If 50 percent of teenage females are dropping out of high school due to pregnancy, that is 50 percent of girls who will more likely be in poverty, be incarcerated, and perpetuate the cycle with lower-achieving children. While teen pregnancy is the issue, the trend is addressing this issue by local, state, and federal governments and school districts. This trend will hopefully continue to help decrease teen pregnancy rates throughout the nation, and concurrently make a dent on high school dropout rates.
Shuger, L. 2012. Teen pregnancy and high school dropout: What communities are doing to address these issues. The national campaign to preven teen and unplanned pregnancy and America’s Promise Alliance. Retrieved from http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/resources/pdf/teen-preg-hs-droput.pdf
Teen pregnancy prevention. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. February 12, 2013. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/TeenPregnancy/State-Community-Orgs.htm Download a proposal focused on this trend/issue in education here:
Overview
The Center for Disease Control defines teen pregnancy as “a teenage girl, usually within the ages of 13-19, who becomes pregnant” (About teen pregnancy, 2012). In 2011, 329,797 babies were born to teen mothers in the United States. While this number seems rather large, it is actually a record low for the United States, a drop of 8 percent from 2010. However, when compared to other developed andindustrialized countries, the United States ranks in the top 5 countries with the highest teen pregnancy rate (Singh & Darroch, 15). While teen pregnancies have declined in all developed countries, it is still a prominent issue for today’s youth and society.
While the statistics may be hopeful of a continued decrease in teen pregnancies, the teen mothers of the over 300,000 babies born just in 2011 still struggle to earn a high school education, raise and support a family, and to rise or stay out of poverty. The added costs associated with teen pregnancies account for nearly $11 billion, paid for by tax-payers, annually (About teen pregnancy, 2012). These costs are comprised of increased health care for the mothers and children, foster care, incarceration, and loss of potential revenue.
One of the main causes of the monetary costs of teen pregnancies is the lack of education the teen mothers receive. Teen mothers are significantly more likely to drop out of high school, resulting in only 50 percent of teen mothers receiving a high school diploma by age 22, compared to almost 90 percent of other teenage girls (National campaign to prevent teen and unwanted pregnancy, 2011). In fact, teen pregnancy is the leading cause of females dropping out of high school. Furthermore, less than 2 percent of teen mothers attain a college degree by age 30. Because of their lower education status, teen mothers on average earn lower incomes than their peers, and are thus more likely to be in poverty.
Children of teen mothers are also affected for the long-term. These children are more likely to achieve lower than their peers, drop out of high school, have health problems, be jailed sometime during their youth, and be unemployed as a young adult (Teen pregnancy and education, 2010). Only about two-thirds of children born to teen mothers finish high school, as opposed to 81 percent of children born to older parents. Throughout their entire education, these children tend to struggle more and are 50 percent more likely to repeat a grade than children of later-bearing parents. Perhaps the most disheartening of all statistics, though, is children born to teen mothers are more likely to become teenage parents themselves, perpetuating the cycle of poverty and poor education.
In Alabama and Georgia, teen pregnancy rates are higher than the national average. In 2011, Alabama’s teen birth rate was 40.5 births for every 1,000 teenage girls (2011 Alabama at-a-glance, 2012), and 37.9 births for every 1,000 teenage girls in Georgia (Fast-facts, 2012). This compares to the national average of 31.3 births for every 1,000 teenage girls (About teen pregnancy, 2012). However, just as the nation’s teen pregnancy rate declined, so did Alabama’s and Georgia’s, with Alabama decreasing by 10 percent and Georgia decreasing by 8 percent. Because teen pregnancy is an issue with many negative long-lasting effects, it has become a trend to prevent teen pregnancy and to help teen mothers earn a high school diploma.
Trend or Issue
Preventing teen pregnancy is frequently a top issue for politicians and policy-makers, because of the extensive economic, social, health, and education costs for teen parents and their families. In 1990, teen pregnancy rates were the highest in the past 30 years, but have dropped by over 73.2 percent (Dell’antonia, 2012). Perhaps this decrease can be explained by the vigorous efforts of governments to reduce teen-pregnancy rates. In 1981, the Adolescent Family Life program was created by the federal government to combat the teen pregnancy trend (Solomon-Fears, 2013). In its first 20 years, the program focused on abstinence-only education, causing a 20-year decrease of 57.1 percent. From 2001 until 2010, teen pregnancy prevention shifted to increasing education and achievement for teen girls. School achievement, attendance, and school involvement have been shown to greatly reduce the risk of teen pregnancy (Teen pregnancy and education, 2010). In other words, when teen girls are more involved in school, the less likely they are to become teen mothers. Federal and state governments have worked hard to lower pregnancy rates in teens, resulting in the lowest rate ever in 2011. Thus, it has become a trend to continue to lower teen pregnancy rates throughout the nation.The United States has nearly 14,000 school districts, and the lowest 25 continually low-achieving districts account for 20 percent of the nation’s dropouts (Shuger, 2012). In 2008, 69,809 out of the total 434,758 teen births were from these 25 school districts, or about 16 percent. Based on these statistics, the United States Department of Education released this statement in 2013: “Because there is a close connection between teen pregnancy and academic failure and because teen pregnancy affects the education achievement of teens themselves (as well as their children), those concerned about educating young people should also be concerned with preventing teen pregnancy”.
In 2010, $100 million of federal funds was given to public and private programs to try innovative techniques in lowering and preventing teen pregnancy rates (Solomon-Fears, 2013). Much of this money focused on the 25 failing school districts. In New York City, with 21.1 percent of the 39,669 dropouts due to teen pregnancy, the Changing the Odds program has recently been implemented (Shuger, 2012). The program intends to identify at-risk young girls before they become pregnant, using attendance rates, family income, academic achievement, surveys on sexual health, and other risk factors. If the program is successful, plans have been made to launch the program across the country in efforts to lower teen pregnancy and increase graduation rates for young girls. In West Virginia, one of only three states whose teen birth rate did not decrease from 2007 to 2010, the state department has started an initiative in an effort to inform and train all educators in the state about the relationship between education and teen pregnancy. All educators in the state are given pamphlets with statistics about dropout and teen pregnancy rates, with specifics for each county. Professional development programs are given to teachers and health professionals to offer ideas and tips to help reduce dropout rates and teen pregnancy. One key practice West Virginia hopes to implement is training every teacher in how to work with pregnant teens or young at-risk females. The theory is any teacher might have a close relationship with students, not just a health or sex-education teacher, and therefore can be influential in preventing teen pregnancy and dropout.
Mobile County has the highest teen pregnancy rate of all of metropolitan areas in Alabama, about 65.6 for every 1,000 teenage girls (Teen Pregnancy Prevention, 2013). As a result, the Alabama Department of Public Health and the Mobile County Department of Public Health have created the Title X Family Planning Program. The program focuses on targeting at-risk girls to help educate against teen pregnancy. Title X works closely with community services and health educators to train and educate these workers in methods to help identify at-risk girls before they become pregnant. This program receives state and federal funding to help sustain its efforts, projecting to reduce pregnancy rates in African American teens by 10% by 2015.
In our 21st century job market, it is essential for our teens to graduate high school and continue their education. If 50 percent of teenage females are dropping out of high school due to pregnancy, that is 50 percent of girls who will more likely be in poverty, be incarcerated, and perpetuate the cycle with lower-achieving children. While teen pregnancy is the issue, the trend is addressing this issue by local, state, and federal governments and school districts. This trend will hopefully continue to help decrease teen pregnancy rates throughout the nation, and concurrently make a dent on high school dropout rates.
Curriculum Proposal
Bibliography
2011 Alabama at-a-glance, Alabama campaign to prevent teen pregnancy. Nov 2012. Retrieved from
http://www.acptp.org/uploadedfiles/File/2011_Alabama_at_a_Glance.pdf.
About teen pregnancy. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. November 21, 2012. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/teenpregnancy/aboutteenpreg.html
Dell’antonia, K. Teen pregnancy rate hits 30-year low, The New York Times, Feb 8, 2012. Retrieved from http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/teen-pregnancy-rate-hits-30-year-low/
Fast facts, Georgia campaign for adolescent power& potential. Nov 2012. Retrieved from http://www.gcapp.org/fast-facts.
Hoffman SD. Kids Having Kids: Economic Costs and Social Consequences of Teen Pregnancy. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute Press; 2008.
Singh, S. & Darroch, J. Adolescent pregnancy and childbearing: levels and trends in developed countries. Fam Plann Perspect. 2000; 32(1): 14-23.
National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. 2011. Retrieved from http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/costs/default.aspx
Perper, K., Peterson, K., & Manlove, J., Diploma Attainment Among Teen Mothers, 2010. Child Trends, Fact Sheet: Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://www.childtrends.org/Files//Child_Trends- 2010_01_22_FS_DiplomaAttainment.pdf//
Shuger, L. 2012. Teen pregnancy and high school dropout: What communities are doing to address these issues. The national campaign to preven teen and unplanned pregnancy and America’s Promise Alliance. Retrieved from http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/resources/pdf/teen-preg-hs-droput.pdf
Solomon-Fears, C. Teenage pregnancy prevention: Statistics and programs. Congressional research service. April 2013. Retrieved from http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RS20301.pdf
Teen pregnancy and education, The national campaign to prevent teen pregnancy, March 2010. Retrieved from http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/why-it-matters/pdf/education.pdf
Teen pregnancy prevention. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. February 12, 2013. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/TeenPregnancy/State-Community-Orgs.htm
Download a proposal focused on this trend/issue in education here: